Film Forum

From filmmaker/film historian Felix Moeller (director of HARLAN – IN THE SHADOW OF THE JEW SÜSS) comes this thoughtful, provocative analysis of the 40 Nazi-produced movies still banned from broadcast or public screening in Germany (except in a scholarly context) because they are considered too inflammatory or offensive. The Third Reich’s anti-Semitic films are well-known (among them THE ETERNAL JEW, THE ROTHSCHILDS, JEW SÜSS), but less famed are their anti-British and anti-Polish dramas, featuring heroic young Germans, mercilessly bullied by greedy, deranged foreigners. Nearly 70 years after the demise of the Nazis, do Joseph Goebbels’s notorious propaganda movies still pose a threat to civil society? See this galvanizing documentary and judge for yourself. .

All Tickets Free of Charge.

Tickets available on a first come, first served basis, day of show only, when the box office opens at noon (10:30am on Sunday). There is no advanced ticketing for this film.

Presented with generous support from the Ostrovsky Family Foundation
and the Joan S. Constantiner Fund for Jewish and Holocaust Films.

GERMANY • 2014 • 94 MINS. • IN GERMAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES • ZEITGEIST FILMS

Reviews

“The most remarkable of the documentary’s participants are neo-Nazis, whose faces aren’t shown and who appear silhouetted in a dark room… (Moeller’s) selection of clips of the censored films offers surprising glimpses of the cinematic unconscious at work.”
– Richard Brody, The New Yorker

“This is a documentary fascinated with and fearful of cinema’s potency, but it is also devoted to the idea of open discourse, a stance that underlines the urgency of thinking about film critically.”
– Nicolas Rapold, The New York Times

“Anyone with an interest in the intersection between film history and world history, or in the psychological powers of narrative cinema, should see FORBIDDEN FILMS. Like the addictive TV miniseries The Story of Film, the documentary takes a bold plunge into era-specific filmmaking techniques, and uses clips from its subjects to create remarkable visual essays… Moeller keeps finding gripping new angles into this history lesson.”
– Andrew Lapin, The Dissolve

“American viewers are likely to find (the film) particularly illuminating.”
– Thomas Doherty, Tablet

“FASCINATING.  MUST-SEE VIEWING for cinephiles of all persuasions.” 
– Ronnie Scheib, Variety

“COMPELLING.  FASCINATING viewing for both film and history buffs.” 
– Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter

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